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Simon-G294
Childhood Simon was found on the doorstep of an orphanage on Eridanus II, having been abandoned by his parents at birth. He grew up bitter and antisocial, knowing that he had not been wanted. At the age of six, he was given the opportunity to join the SPARTAN III program, an offer he readily accepted. He and the other SIII's were taken to Onyx, where they began training under Lieutenant Kurt Ambrose. During the training, Simon gained a reputation for being unfriendly and arrogant, a reputation born of his inherent antisocial nature. When the Gamma Company SPARTANs were divided into five-man teams, he was assigned to Team Jian, under the command of Jake-G293. Training As a member of Team Jian, Simon was quickly reevaluated by his teammates. They found that his quietness and tendency to isolate himself from others stemmed from a life of isolation and mistrust. Jake, the team leader, found that his quiet teammate's contributions (further and fewer between than the rest of the team's) often revealed bits of information that others hadn't spotted. However, Simon was quickly seen to be one of the least proficient fighters in Gamma company, a fact he resented and worked hard to overcome. He was frustrated by his team's constant defeats at the hands of Team Saber, and fostered a bitter dislike of Saber's leader, Ash. While not working to become a better soldier, Simon enjoyed reading and attempted to procure new books as often as possible. He also wished to know more about the Alpha and Beta companies of SPARTAN IIIs, since he had been told nothing of them besides that they had been the two companies of SIIIs before Gamma. Being careful not to be detected, Simon ran searches for both of the companies on the 'net. Finding nothing, he also searched for SPARTAN IIIs, but came up empty once again. He concluded that the SPARTAN IIIs were top-secret, a fact he couldn't understand given the morale-boosting nature of the SPARTAN IIs. After months of pondering his discovery, he correctly deduced that the SPARTAN IIIs were essentially a suicide unit, and that both Alpha and Beta companies had been wiped out fighting the Covenant. This realization completely destroyed his trust of the UNSC, but he told no one, fearful that if his superiors found him out he would be killed. He considered deserting, but stayed because he did not want to abandon his friends. However, he promised himself that he would survive no matter what. Team Jian At twelve years of age, Simon survived being biologically enhanced like all of the other SPARTANs of Gamma Company, and shipped out of Onyx to begin fighting the Covenant. He was secretly glad that Team Saber remained behind to compete for top honors because it meant that he wouldn't have to work with Ash. He participated in all of Gamma Company's missions, always expecting that their next mission would be the one in which the UNSC sacrificed them all. No longer afraid of being killed by his instructors, Simon voiced his fears to the other members of Team Jian, but none of his teammates believed him. Determined to leave some message that would tip off the UNSC's civilian population and get the SIII program canceled, Simon began keeping a diary, chronicling all of his thoughts, as well as all that he knew about the SIII program. Over the course of his missions, Simon made repeated attempts to pass on his knowledge of the program to others. On the rare occasions that Gamma Company fought alongside Marine or Navy personnel, he defied orders and struck up conversations with them, dropping hints or copies of his diary pages to those he trusted most. Most of the time, however, the Gamma SPARTANs performed their missions with little or no contact to or from other humans. During these times, Simon was proud to note that Team Jian never lost a member, something he attributed to Jake's leadership and something which Jake attributed to the combined skills of the team, especially Simon's insights and his constant insistence to the others to not sacrifice themselves. However, scattered casualties throughout the rest of Gamma Company saw teams enlarged or rearranged to make up for the deaths. Noticing Team Jian's lack of any losses whatsoever, the ONI officials responsible for the maintenance of Gamma Company enlarged the team from a five member squad to a ten member one. While he lamented the loss of privacy, Simon was glad that more SPARTAN IIIs had come under what he hoped was a positive influence from his constant telling of his team members to stay alive. During his battles against the Covenant, Simon learned to detest the Brutes and Jackals, fear and respect the Elites and Hunters, and to sympathize with and pity the Grunts. He saw the diminutive Grunts as being trapped in a similar predicament as that of the SIIIs: their superiors cared more for the damage that they could cause than their individual lives. He was also privately shocked at how easily killing other sentient beings came to himself and his fellow SPARTANs, blaming the UNSC for robbing them of the innocence of childhood. When the Covenant Civil War broke out, Simon saw the Grunts forced to fight for both sides, which served to warn him that should a similar schism split the UNSC, the SPARTANs would most likely be found fighting on both sides. The Battle of New Africa With the Covenant's invasion of Earth, it was clear that, for better or for worse, the war was nearing its end. Gamma Company was reassigned to a large UNSC assault fleet preparing to reinforce UNSC forces on Earth with an army consisting of thousands of Marines and ODSTs, all collected from secret facilities across UNSC space. However the fleet's plans were disrupted when the Prophet of Truth opened the portal to the Ark on Earth and entered it with most of the Covenant Loyalist fleet. The reserve fleet's commander, Rear Admiral Edwards, convinced Lord Hood that now was the perfect opportunity to recapture the few human planets that had not been glassed. Hood reluctantly agreed, and the fleet, along with Gamma Company, made for the captured colony world of New Africa, which had been spared a glassing by its small cache of Forerunner technology buried beneath its surface. The fleet's secret weapon was a massive infantry deployment vessel, the UNSC Titanic. This ship not only contained the brunt of the UNSC assault force, but also had the capability of launching a huge amount of ODST drop pods from orbit. Gamma Company's mission was to capture or destroy the largest Covenant encampment on the planet, clearing a space for Marine reinforcements to land and establish a beachhead. Simon expressed doubts about the coming battle in his diary, and when Gamma Company dropped from the Titanic to the planet, his misgivings were justified. Due to larger amounts of Covenant troops than expected, Gamma Company received more losses than it had endured during its entire service history, including Team Jian's first casualties. Despite this, the invasion continued, with Gamma Company driving the Covenant forces further and further into their encampment while ODST battalions secured the surrounding area. During the fighting, Team Jian noticed a human mining elevator in the midst of the Covenant facility. Attempting to investigate, the team was ambushed. In the ensuing firefight, Simon and a wounded teammate, Mary-G130, were driven onto the elevator, which began to descend of its own accord. As they traveled down the shaft, Simon attempted without success to patch up Mary's rapidly worsening wounds. When they reached the bottom, the two SPARTANs were ambushed by robots constructed from scrap. Although they managed to destroy quite a number of their attackers, Simon and Mary were overwhelmed. His last sight as he was bludgeoned unconscious was of Mary being briefly inspected and then killed by one of the robots. Captive Simon awoke to find himself strapped to an operating table, dressed in only in the jumpsuit he wore under his SPI armor and suffering from a splitting headache. A cold and impassive voice congratulated him on surviving what it described as "an experiment meant to contribute to the evolution of humanity as a species." Furious over the Mary's murder, Simon demanded to know where he was. The voice refused to answer his question, and instead told him that he was the first in over a dozen test subjects to survive the experiment. When Simon screamed at it to tell him what it had done to him, the voice informed him that an AI had been successfully implanted directly into his brain. Upon hearing this, Simon was horrified, due in part to a mistrust of AIs he had developed during training, At this point, the AI within him now revealed herself, introducing herself as Diana. Panicking, Simon tore through his restraints and, grabbing his MA5K from where his armor had been discarded, tried to destroy the machine the voice seemed to be coming from. Diana stopped him by sending an electric shock through his nervous system. The voice then told him that he would be released back onto the surface, where his struggles to survive would be monitored. After this, Simon once again lost consciousness. Back Into The Fray When Simon regained consciousness, he was lying on a grassy plain, dressed in his SPI armor and with his MA5K carbine by his side. At first he decided that it had all been a dream, but this hope vanished when Diana again spoke to him through his helmet's speaker system. Reminded of his predicament, Simon tried to ignore the AI while he attempted to ascertain his location. Diana insisted that he'd better get used to her, but Simon told her that he'd have her removed as soon as he reported back to the UNSC. Diana then told him that the two of them were now a single entity. If he died, then she would be erased. If she were erased or removed, he would die. Simon's angry response was cut off by the arrival of several Covenant Phantoms. As Simon fled across the plain, he noticed that his movements were slightly faster than before. Diana claimed credit for this, stating that having her tapped into his spinal cord was increasing his reaction time. Admitting that she might be good for some things, Simon made his way into some foothills, where he and Diana managed to cooperate in order to kill several Covenant pursuers. Betrayal With very little rations to go on, Simon decided that he would try to find the nearest UNSC forces in order to find out what had happened since he had gone missing. Still not trusting Diana, he picked up a signal from a stranded group of ODSTs. Arriving at the platoon's location, he discovered that both the UNSC and Covenant had forces scattered randomly across the planet, and that there had been no sign of ships from either side for days. While resupplying, he heard a message on the ODSTs' radio ordering all SPARTAN IIIs in the area to report to a nearby location for reassignment. Traveling to the spot, he encountered three other SIIIs who had also been separated from the main force. As they headed for the extraction point, Simon decided not to mention Diana to his companions. Diana, trying to understand her host more clearly, attempted to strike up a conversation about the SIII program, only to be told that it was "classified" by Simon. Indignant at his mistrust, Diana stopped talking to him. Relieved at her silence, Simon reached the designated area without further incident. Once at the spot, the four SPARTANs found a squad of ODSTs waiting for them. Unbeknownst to the SPARTANs, the war with the Covenant was officially over. The heads of ONI had determined that if the public learned of the SIII program the UNSC would shut ONI down. Determining the SPARTANs of Gamma Company too big of a security risk, ONI had dispatched several death squads to New Africa disguised as ODST reinforcements. Without any warning, the ONI troops opened fire on the unsuspecting SPARTANs, killing Simon's three companions in seconds. Aided by Diana, Simon managed to kill his attackers, taking their leader prisoner. From him, Simon learned of the order to kill all of the SPARTAN IIIs. Furious that he and his friends had been betrayed so callously, Simon executed his hostage(he later apologized to Diana for losing control). Wounded during the ambush, Simon fled back into the plains, where he was hunted by both the ONI forces and the Covenant troops stranded on the planet. After a long and bitter chase, Simon was finally surrounded by death squads. He was saved by several new figures in MJOLNIR armor. As he was loaded onto a Pelican by his rescuers, he finally assured Diana of his trust in her before passing out from blood loss. Rampant Simon was revived in the medical facility of a UNSC cargo ship by a man who identified himself simply as Troy. When an exhausted Simon asked why he didn't have a last name, Troy replied that his reason for not having a last name was the same reason that Simon did not have one. He put a stop to any other questions by telling Simon to get some rest, and assured him that all would be revealed "in due time". As his wounds rapidly recovered, Simon asked Diana what exactly she was and whom it was who had implanted her in him. She agreed to tell him on the condition that he tell her about who he was. Deciding that he owed the UNSC nothing, Simon agreed. After he had briefed her on the nature of the SPARTAN III program, as well as his abiding hatred of those who had used him, Diana told him that she was a creation of Project SIMBIOTE, an autonomous UNSC program that had been experimenting with AI technology. After some of their top researchers had been trapped on New Africa by the invading Covenant, they had begun attempting to permanently implant smart AIs into living bodies, effectively eliminating a smart AI's lifespan of seven years through its dependency on its host. Simon had been the first test subject to have survived the implantation. When he questioned her loyalties, she assured him that the two of them now depended on each other for survival, and reminded him that if one of them died, then so did the other. Simon, finding himself in alone in the galaxy, chose to trust her.